so let's move on to. the. markets you know. find out what's really happening to the global economy in this report on r g. government linked to militias continue the blockade and shelling of libya's opposition stronghold bani walid more details plus a firsthand account from inside the besieged city in just a moment. secured security forces in lebanon using barbed wire and roadblocks tain armed gunmen calling for the government to quit following a wave of weekend protests over the killing of a top security official. plus foreign policy's in focus as barack obama and mitt romney gear up for their final pre-election debate but some observers saying there is no difference in their view of america's role in the world special in-depth

coverage of the presidential race is coming up. on screen and online twenty four hours a day seven days a week this is our team and i'm karen terrill well the ongoing standoff has intensified in libya where government linked militias continue to surround the former gadhafi stronghold bani walid phares clashes in the outskirts of the city have left at least twenty people dead and more than three hundred injured. has more now you might find some of the following scenes to start. all the town of bani walid has been under siege for eighteen days so far five days the last five days have seen extremely intense fighting going on in on the ground people or inside the city are telling us about the dire situation in which they find themselves a man literally risked his life in order to bring us this exclusive piece on what

is really happening in bani walid right now i have a call from my family in there told me that the situation the road there is overly horrible there. are heart of all of qana for. everywhere in the city of the civilians building our fallen in the burning oil of ha's with oh we don't have a lot of medicine right now the house and the hospital and the people outside from the hours with the three week there's no food. or leave because of the militias that it's around the clothes and the roads that it is there the food and if there are women been away from the three sides they use the house that grow the rockets and the guys women's and i actually found even the guards mask is that of course of the hospital says it is clearly that the civilians the bomb with with the guards this couldn't go unnoticed from the libya itself there were protests in the cab in the capital in tripoli where people went marched on the government building to

protest the fact that the city of buying what was been besieged by the government forces those crowds were dispersed with live ammunition being fired into the air there were also protests and in gaza people are breaking into the headquarters of an american channel allegedly because they did not like the biased broadcast that the channel was presenting so this is russian the country is definitely unstable extremely so all the violence continues and there is no sign of any sort of solution coming to the country in time soon and we've just spoken over the phone to a member of the ruling tribal council in bani walid doctor on hardy yardy is inside the city and claims it's under chemical attack. there out of the pumping right there out there already if you're. coming from a. public that if you're not on board i would guess that there are so many.

good on it about. coming or going to be. a bio me a editor of the pan-african news wire says it's washington's blatant pursuit of its own financial interests in the mail last year that's responsible for the ongoing violence obviously the government is behind this siege of bani walid it's clearly a violation of international law of human rights norms why are they targeting this town of one hundred thousand people this is totally unjustified and i think the state department should really be called out for not condemning this siege on body wiley because they in fact it was that of backing the general national congress government it's a pro u.s. regime only reason why the united states and nato went into libya in the first place was when gene changed the season privatized the oil industry in that country and also to seize the foreign assets of the libyan government which was in excess

of some one hundred sixty billion dollars there was absolutely no justification whatsoever for the war was waged against libya last year. moving on now to lebanon where armed gunmen have blocked roads in several areas of the capital beirut following weekend fights between police and demonstrators early on monday dozens of protesters put up tents there saying they would not leave until the government or science soldiers used barbed wire and road blocks to prevent the demonstrators from approaching the lebanese prime minister's office. at least two people were killed and over a dozen wounded overnight in the country as protesters burning tires and bins the unrest began on sunday when crowds of protesters stormed government headquarters accusing syria of masterminding the killing of security chief political analyst omar in a shelby says a thorough investigation is needed before any blame is late. apparently no one is

waiting for the investigation everyone is really in a rush to accuse and this is very unfortunate there's a tension in lebanon between two groups you see one group in lebanon supports the opposition or the armed rebel groups in syria another group praising it does not support these opposition groups and in the middle is the prime minister who is trying to say that lebanon is neutral towards the crisis in syria and with the assassination of general who is close to the fourteenth of march and therefore close to the group that supports. the prime minister is in a difficult the situation and he is very close to resigning and this will create. chaos the criminal investigation has not. only started you know and well this has been a trend in lebanon it's the same turned. prime minister how it was in two thousand and five and others were assassinated afterwards there was also all this kind of rush to. the outcome for political purposes and accusations

that are based on political interests not based on the findings of independent judicial body so this is happening again in lebanon today. so right now just turning points from the u.s.s. chemicals used in the controversial gas extraction technique no that's franking make their way into the homes of local residents. also online biting spending cuts thousands of the talents to protest and also force them to cut back on one of their most famous traditions find out which one of our key dot com. is just over two weeks left until america votes r.t. is tracking the race for the white house with our in-depth coverage of the presidential election barack obama and mitt romney are tied in the polls ahead of their third and final debate on monday focusing on foreign policy. looks into whether the pair really viewed the u.s. role in the world differently. as we're waiting for the debate on foreign policy

the last debate before the election on november the sixth many see it as the make or break point for both campaigns because president obama and governor romney have so far been running neck and neck but whoever is elected america's next commander in chief will take on the same old foreign policy mission and that is to expand the country's influence in the world but is there that much daylight between the candidates let's try and find out what the rhetoric of the romney team leaves no doubt that he advocates of more intrusive us foreign policy we have to show strength in america that's who he is one that would be despite the one thing we all fear the most is a weak america with. america the current administration is also striving for a robust america in their own way we came we saw you died. when folks mess with americans we go after the arab spring are full that the obama administration jumped on the bandwagon of the revolutions hoping to forge better

all lines with the new leaders. while prompting the change with airstrikes and arms supplies when anti-american protests spread across the muslim world some asked whether it's time for the u.s. to stop meddling in the middle east and north africa i don't see how how we could ever talk about divorcing ourselves from the region if a no other reason given the push in us policy you still have two primary drivers in terms of national interest and that is oil and israel president obama has shown allies like israel under the bus these three leaders open saber rattling toll words in french has some tension with the white house it's clear the american people don't want to know the costly and devastating war based on phony red lines but should israel decides to attack what would the two candidates do differently if it were to happen i don't think there's going to be much difference ultimately i understand and share this or not you know whose insistence that iran should not

obtain a nuclear weapon my red line is iran may not have a nuclear weapon iran is a nuclear nation is unacceptable the united states president obama said exactly the same thing regarding obama's pivot into asia there's not much daylight between him and romney either the policy involves expanding u.s. military presence to act as a counterbalance against china's growing power and to advance u.s. interests in asia pacific candidate romney showed a willingness to take that pivot to another level ramping up the pressure on beijing i'll crack down on china having been stuck in this cold war mentality he sees the world in very black and white terms so russia is a foe china is a foe it's almost as if the cold war war never ended and that regard the paper toward asia makes perfect sense to mr romney and i really don't think he would change anything the rhetoric is he issues the the presence of subtlety or the lack of subtlety is a primary difference between mr romney and mr obama in relations with russia unlike

romney for whom russia this is without question our number one geopolitical foe president obama avoids cold war rhetoric after all you don't call russia our number one enemy. not all qaeda russia. unless you're still start going to cold war mind warp despite a more forthcoming official attitude the administration indicated that they would still forge ahead with plans to build a missile shield close to russia it's a longstanding sore point in the relations between the two countries moscow has many times suggested resulting the issue by building the shields together to no avail. i spoke with former bush administration official colonel lawrence wilkerson and asked him whether a change in the oval office could mean address the change in the way america deals with the world is a marvelous consistency in american foreign policy whether it's wrong headed which it has been much sense especially in one thousand nine hundred ninety the end of

the cold war. but there is a marvelous consistency to it and that's because foreign policy is foreign policy and security goals so presidents say one thing and then come in and get briefed and they do another thing generally what they do is much like what the other party would do well even despite the consistency that the u.s. foreign policy has shown over the years during the debate the candidates still have to outline their differences they can't just say good evening ladies and gentlemen we both agree on pretty much everything so let's call it a night we have tom hartman here mr harding thanks for joining me my pleasure the host of the big picture show on our t.v. when attacking. governor romney the obama campaign has this line and i heard it many times they say governor romney what would you do differently as if knowing and saying that as the president of the united states he would do exactly the same what do you think well. i think that we have a choice between the iron fist of american empire and we have the largest military

in the world it's larger than the accumulated militaries of the rest of the planet at least in terms of budget and so there's that iron fist which is what romney would project or at what he has said let's go back to the cold war let's be bellicose let's threaten people with a war or do we put a velvet glove over the iron fist which is basically been the obama policy you know we'll help you out a little bit will be we'll talk conciliatory but get out of the way and the drone is going to drop a bomb on your head what do you expect from this debate monday night romney will basically say whatever he thinks it's going to take to get himself elected that's the problem he's got two constituencies basically that he's been appealing to want to is basically old white male constituency. well his age people in the fifty's sixty's seventy's who remember the cold war who still have that mentality who are who are very much in favor of the naked iron fist of american foreign policy and he's got to reach out to those people and obama doesn't have to be historically has not and yet at the same time he knows that you know there's this younger generation

that at least would like the velvet glove thank you mr herman thank you but you're going so as we watch the debate the questions through the fence are the two candidates different more in style than substance i'm going to shut down and i'll certainly be right here after the debate trying to answer that question and also every monday will be zooming into one issue one big issue right now is series of pre-election reports make sure you don't miss that thanks for watching third party presidential candidates are barred from taking part in the debates between obama and romney but are helping break the blockade by offering the alternative names on the ballot a platform for discussion and you can watch the event live on air in america or on our web site on tuesday. this presidential election is not just about obama and romney there are also third party candidates on the ticket and they will influence its outcome see a debate among this nation's major third party candidates right here on our t.v. like over twenty third.

and just to have a strained silence of the desert we report on mass pro-democracy protests in kuwait continuously choked at home and bluntly in order brawling. also a new wave of separatism calls is expected in debt stricken spain as the independence party is when a key regional election the story and much more after a short break. the sun rises over what seems like and most forest we hear in the new directions cry for hundred kilometers north of london while stopped as much of the world it's disappearing and accounts traffic great. lawyers both illegal

and those finding ways to outsmart the system filing down the forests of the region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy the forest is enormous and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find solid tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out and move silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander someone in ca has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of lawyers blue. it's easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible to find human dramatics and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that these twelve the tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them

off as we get closer. this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done he is overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the promoter ski region and the w w f says the government isn't doing enough to stop it just you. know with no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone what will the people who live afterwards do it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change and the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. hello

welcome back to our team with me tara tara well a member of the russian opposition accused of staging mass on ruston may has turned himself in to the country's authorities the investigative committee says. he has confessed to aiding and organizing mass protests that occurred in moscow where he revealed they had been financed by the former georgian m.p. g.v. as that. last week russian investigators launched criminal proceedings against another prominent opposition figure said again without so that's after documentary claimed he and his friends including. received millions of dollars to carry out orders from georgia the charges could result in a sentence of up to ten years in prison. proponents parties have won elections in spain's basque country with their results expected to spark more talk of separatism and prone to penzance candidates have secure the second largest majority in the

region in thirty four years when an basque nationalist party has vowed to address the country's economic problems that's after describing madrid as a break on the development of the region and its manifesto the victory comes a weeks ahead of elections in catalonia the wealthiest part of spain that's recently seen massive separatism rallies economics blogger gonzalo lead us says the financial crisis is at the core of calls for independence. with economic problems and economic discontent you have the urge to split away from the majority because you feel that the majority as a minority you feel that the majority is not cognizant of your problems is not helping you to overcome and it's a certain kind of blinders that the minorities will have that they feel that they are not being taken care of when in fact everybody suffer equal be and this is the case in spain everybody suffering under the scene and stuff. but each independent region each of you just on this region feels a day in particular are being made to suffer or its impact the entire country to be

a huge unemployment issue in spain fifty percent youth unemployment and twenty five percent joe adult unemployment and the problem of these. crisis that spain faces which is not going to have a happy ending and which is going to require drastic cuts. and just a generalized economic reboot of the country and that's why you're seeing so much protests and so it's a little gains for the independents because time now for some other world news in brief or in this hour egyptian authorities have frozen the assets of the country's former prime minister and presidential race runner up. this comes after state media reported that shafique is due to go on trial in december for a legit corruption a former confidant to the ousted president hosni mubarak shafiq left egypt soon after losing out on the. country's top job this summer he says all allegations against him are politically motivated. police in kosovo have fired tear gas as dozens gathered outside the government assembly building in the capital pristina to

protest against talks with serbia as after the prime ministers of the two sides held the historic first meeting on saturday brokered by the e.u. which according to the demonstrators undermine kosovo status breakaway region declared independence from serbia in two thousand and eight following bitter conflicts during the break up of yugoslavia. israel's prime minister has vowed to continue the construction of settlements in east jerusalem it comes despite palestinian objections about the area as part of their capital of a future separate state that use foreign policy chief has slammed the building plan as destructive to peace efforts in the region. south korean police have blocked activists from sending propaganda propaganda leaflets and north korea after pyongyang threatened a merciless military response the north warned it could strike a group which was looking to launch balloons with two hundred thousand flyers into the communist country seoul had to mobilize army units and prepare evacuations from

an area near the demilitarized zone tensions between north and south korea have remained acute for almost six decades with the two countries technically at war. over a hundred people have been injured in the capital of kuwait police stepped in to break up a series of anti regime rallies tens of thousands flooded the streets in various parts of the city and headed towards government headquarters but were met by tear gas and stun grenades the protest was sparked by reform ability torah law which the opposition called a constitutional coupe claiming it would significantly hamper its chances of winning the parliamentary poll position activists have urged people to boycott the elections scheduled for december protests against the ruling also family a key u.s. ally have regularly. repton for over a year however eric draitser from south imperils and dot com thinks they have an attractive enough international attention because of washington strategic interest in keeping the regime in power. well kuwait has long been

a client state of the united states and more and more kuwait plays a. central role in the g.c.c. the gulf cooperation council kuwait has been used as a weapon by the us as a foothold in the region along the persian gulf and kuwait continues to fill that role it's a country that we don't hear so much about in the headlines but it is very much part and parcel of us a gemini in the middle east the the western media which is controlled by the same interests which control wall street the western media it's not in their interest to tell the story of bahrain or kuwait in bahrain the united states has military interests as well as political and propaganda interests bahrain is a client of the saudis which is in turn a client of the united states kuwait similarly is also a client state and for that reason you don't hear about rampant human rights abuses you don't hear about the attack on working people the way you do in places like libya or syria which were long since on the u.s.

hit lists. and i mean she's next with the business and we finally have the details of the b.p. brass now deal that's right bit of breaking news there's the confirmation of this deal between b.p. and rose now that basically rosneft is buying out of b.p.'s fifty percent a share in t.n. k b p and the third largest oil company in russia now it's going to be paying seventeen point one billion dollars in cash and another traunch will come in rostam chip as of twelve point eight percent now b.p. will use pots of that money that it's getting from ross and have to boost its stake to nineteen percent in roast depth and therefore quad two seats on the chairman of the board of. and also in a separate deal ross nafta has confirmed that it's reached a basic agreement with the russian shareholders in t.n. k d p to buy their fifty percent stake for twenty eight billion dollars and the end

it will end up having one hundred percent of t. and k b p and would therefore become the largest publicly traded oil producer in the world. or i will have more details on that story for you as we get them and of course analytical commentary for out the days of do stay with r.t. now ukraine's president victory on a call which is in moscow on short notice to meet with his russian counterpart vladimir putin analysts expect that gas would be high on the agenda since russia launched the north stream undersea pipeline to germany transit through ukraine has been gradually decreasing and in the first seven months of this year is sort of forty nine billion cubic meters around a quarter less than last year year and year now also ukraine has been a long unhappy about its current gas prices paid four hundred twenty eight dollars per thousand cubic metres so far this year on average. arrival the second of course

happening on the markets while the russian indices are in general adding around half a percent rosneft is boosting three percent on the news now in europe b.p. and is gaining one and a half percent also beating of the market average and good good news coming from philips its first quarter profits came in much better than expected and the stock is up more than four percent this hour now over on the currencies market the euro continues to gain against the dollar that's on the back of we counting data coming out on friday in the united states and the russian ruble is declining mostly against the euro and that's on the back of still pretty low oil prices which. we have seen come back up from two week lows but around just call football love carol. now after a short break pizza lavelle will be at his guests they will be discussing whether

he has the will of the wherewithal to regain the influence that it had when it was at the heart of the ottoman empire. secret laboratory to mukherjee was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a dollar amount anything tim's mission to teach creation why it should care about humans in war this is why you should care only on dot com. read the north almost terrorist attack. ex hostages blunders into their lives after the tragedy.

still gives try to cross out the past. because their future will be written. look. british.

let's. markets. happening to the global economy. watch. plug and. play. hello and welcome to cross talk about turkey and its road ahead a little over a year ago turkey was being hailed as the new leader and model for the muslim world among many turks the ottoman legacy is again back in vogue. things have changed instead of focusing on a foreign policy of no problems with its neighbors syria is ankara's foreign policy today.